color mutation?

[kennethdaysale]

I caught 8 or 9 of these 1 lb bass this morning mixed in with an equal number of regular colored bass. They were all in 8-12' of water schooled together along a midlake hump that dropped off to 25-30'. Been fishing this place for 3 yrs and have never caught any bass that weren't sporting the traditional white belly. These fish had none....almost smallmouth looking. Water is consistantly clear.......thoughts? ideas?

odd

[the pyromaniac]

If the water is clear and fertile, this happens. I've seen it on other species too, not just LMB. It happens on sunfish and catfish, and probably others.

[USMCbassman]

One of the places I take my kids where I know I can get them on LMB, they don't have white bellies and are almost brown looking. No green in 'em and almost no black, sometimes on some of the fish you can't even see their spots. I always chalked it up to the dirty water and a sort of color mutation for camouflage.

You mentioned "almost small mouth looking"; this is a question of ignorance: Do you think there is a possibility of SMB and LMB cross breeding? I don't know if they'd do such a thing, I guess anything is possible though.

[Tavery5]

Originally Posted by USMCbassman

One of the places I take my kids where I know I can get them on LMB, they don't have white bellies and are almost brown looking. No green in 'em and almost no black, sometimes on some of the fish you can't even see their spots. I always chalked it up to the dirty water and a sort of color mutation for camouflage.

You mentioned "almost small mouth looking"; this is a question of ignorance: Do you think there is a possibility of SMB and LMB cross breeding? I don't know if they'd do such a thing, I guess anything is possible though.

I don't know if they can occur in nature but the original Mean Mouth bass was a cross between a Small Mouth and a Large Mouth.

I think that a Mean Mouth is now considered a cross between a Small Mouth and a Spotted.

[kennethdaysale]

Allegedly your situation, for you, would be concurrently improved if I had 200 dollars in my back pocket now.

[garland7]

Bass will change colors due to location, this one looks like it had been living primarily in/around vegetation

[bluebasser86]

I've caught them out from under docks and slabs of rock or concrete that were really dark colored, almost black at times. I think they just change colors because of their location.

[rrw4258]

Like some of the others have said, bass change color depending on location. Smallmouth, for instance can be a real pale white looking color early in the spring around here on Erie. After just a a couple of minutes in the livewell, they will darken up almost instantly, and have some of the most beautiful stripes and markings you will ever see on a fish.

Ryan

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by the pyromaniac

If the water is clear and fertile, this happens. I've seen it on other species too, not just LMB. It happens on sunfish and catfish, and probably others.

Sounds probable. I know the opposite tends to happen in constantly dirty water. In one of the lakes I fish regularly (6-12" visibility) most of the fish we catch have light and muted colors whether it be bass, musky, or even crappie.

BB